Attendees given a taste of what kind of work is possible as marijuana
moves into mainstream

On Thursday morning, Marco Cacchione put on a black button-up shirt,
combed his hair, and walked down Robson Street to a job fair, hoping
to snag a gig in an industry that is quickly emerging from the
underground.

After a decade as a line cook, currently at one of Vancouver's casual
fine-dining chains, the 28-year-old said he is ready to make the leap
into cannabis, which is expected to be legalized next July. The
industry will require thousands of workers to meet the likely demand.

When it comes to two of the big policy battles that loom as the fall
sitting of Parliament gets underway this week, prudence dictates that
a journalist keeps his or her powder dry.

In the debate over the government's proposed tax changes for people
with private corporations, as in the case of the Liberal plan to
legalize marijuana, what we have so far seen are just the opening
manoeuvres in a tug-of-war, the outcome of which in the court of
public opinion is far from decided.

Canada is nine months away from fully legalizing marijuana as police
agencies and provinces ask for more time on impaired driving and other
enforcement issues. But in Justin Trudeau's world, taking time is not
part of the equation.

A read of the Liberal government's background documents on cannabis is
instructive.

Mantra-like, it repeats at every opportunity that Canadian youth - who
have among the highest rates of marijuana use in the world - are going
to be protected and prevented from smoking dope because legalization
will result in stringent regulation, prohibition for kids and a steady
diet of educational and awareness campaigns.

Early this summer a variety of police departments executed warrants
that appear to have been sought by the Toronto Police Services. Marc
and Jodie Emery have been arrested, along with several other cannabis
activists including Chris and Erin Goodwin, Britney Guerra and perhaps
others.

This latest salvo in Canada's senseless war on cannabis and cannabis
consumers is a moral outrage and has no place in a free and democratic
society. The Canadian public has supported legalization for many
years. Our government has finally gotten around to moving, slowly,
toward ending prohibition after at least 45 years of studies, Royal
Commissions, government reports and other evidence that legalization
is the only rational, compassionate and sensible policy option.

In 2016 more people were arrested for marijuana possession than for
all crimes the FBI classifies as violent, according to 2016 crime data
released by the agency on Monday.

Marijuana possession arrests edged up slightly in 2016, a year in
which voters in four states approved recreational marijuana
initiatives and voters in three others approved medical marijuana measures.

These figures should be regarded as estimates, because not all law
enforcement agencies provide detailed arrest information to the FBI.
But they do show that the annual number of marijuana arrests is down
from their peak in the mid-2000s and stands at levels last seen in the
mid 1990s. Marijuana use, particularly among adults, rose during this
time.

To combat organized crime on pot sales in Ontario, legal marijuana is
going to have to be competitive with the black market on price,
availability, quality and variety.

With legal pot coming July 1 - unless Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
delays the law - Premier Kathleen Wynne's provincial government
already appears to have conceded the field on price and
availability.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa said this week Ontario is looking at
selling legal pot for about $10 per gram.

That compares to an average street price in Ontario of about $8.64 per
gram, according to a report by the federal parliamentary budget
officer late last year.

Canada is nine months away from legalizing marijuana as police
agencies and provinces ask for more time on impaired driving and other
enforcement issues. But in Justin Trudeau's world, taking time is not
part of the equation.

A read of the Liberal government's background documents on cannabis is
instructive.

Mantra-like, it repeats at every opportunity that Canadian youth - who
have among the highest rates of marijuana use in the world - are going
to be protected and prevented from smoking dope because legalization
will result in stringent regulation, prohibition for kids and a steady
diet of educational and awareness campaigns.

Finance minister to work with Ottawa, other provinces for uniformity
across Canada

Ontario's biggest weed dealer is considering a retail price of about
$10 a gram in a system that could bring a tax windfall of more than
$100 million a year.

That $10 fee - estimated after New Brunswick signed deals with two
suppliers last week - is on the radar as officials here determine a
price for recreational marijuana when it becomes legal next July1,
Finance Minister Charles Sousa says.

OTTAWA - Opposition parties are asking why the federal government did
not consider sooner how to deal with three United Nations drug
treaties after they learned Thursday the issue is expected to go
before the cabinet this fall.

Officials in Global Affairs Canada have been reviewing options
available to cabinet on how to deal with the treaties - the 1961
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on
Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention against Illicit
Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances - given the
government's plan to legalize marijuana by July 2018.

Michelle Hauser joins millions of other concerned parents over what
legalized marijuana means for their young children. Studies in the
United Kingdom, America and here have all shown conclusively that
marijuana can cause psychosis and other mental problems to those who
use this drug when young.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's idea that legalization is the best way
to curb black market sales, thereby keeping it away from our children,
is right out of fantasyland. In both Colorado and Washington states,
organized crime is involved in the distribution of marijuana since it
was made legal there. There has been a rush on Colorado emergency
rooms by young people who had used the drug. Expect organized crime
groups to quickly get involved here, meaning access to our youth.